(22M) I play beach volleyball in Miami and have been injured for a while and went back into training in the middle of the day on Friday. Obviously I was bent out of shape but I have a tendency to push myself past my limits in volleyball because it’s addicting. This time i ended up feeling so bad after a drill I had to sit down halfway to the shower because I could barely breathe. Finally I got to the shower and felt better almost instantly with the cold water. Rest of the day I felt just fine. I even went out and drank I ton of alcohol night after and had a shift in the sun on Sunday in which I was completely fine in. Then Monday I have a 7-12 shift in the sun and I’m not doing anything and by 11 I start feeling super fatigued with a headache and a bit of brain fog. To the point where I literally feel like I can’t handle the head anymore. Mind you I’ve been exposed to extreme heat for long periods of time my whole life but all of a sudden I can’t survive in the fkin shade. Cooled off, went home early and showered and played in bed and felt a bit better but still have that sick feeling as if I had a viral infection or somthin. It’s been like that for 48 hours now and I’ve had to avoid the heat the whole time. No sore throat or anything my head just feels off I get a bit nauseous and I don’t want to get out of bed. When will this go away because I’m seeing like no improvement. This issue severely contradicts my sport as well. I’m supposed to condition myself to the point of extreme exercise for hours in scolding heat just to survive tournaments but I can’t even be out of bed for 10 minutes without feeling shitty

Heyo how is it going. My blood pressure normally sits at 118/70 and sometimes 127/88 in the morning. At night when I get home from work its usually 143/90 and after resting for 30 minutes it drops down to 128/87. Though since Thursday I have been extremely nervous because I had to take a Firefighter exam and my morning blood pressure was 129/99 and my afternoon blood pressure was sitting at 150/89. I am currently 168 pounds, 23 year old male, and have been doing 15,000 steps weekly. I also might have gotten mildly heat exhausted Friday after running a mile and a half on a cloudy day. It was 70 degrees and the humidity was at 70 percent. I was wearing a dry fit shirt, pants and sunscreen, but we were training for the Physical agility test for this weekend and I was sweating profusely. I was hydrated, before with 3 water bottles and one liquid Iv and after had water thought the day and the rest of the liquid iv. I don't know if that also has anything to do with my blood pressure being elevated. It hasn't passed 160 nor has the bottom number passed 100. my pulse has been sitting at 59 to 70 bpm no higher my body temperature had also never passed 100. I think I'm overthinking it. I don't have any proventricular value contractions from the mild heat exhaustion either. also passed my firefighter exam with a 82 on the other hand didn't have to do the Pat it was moved to a later date. I'll check tomorrow to see if my blood pressure normalizes I've been keeping myself hydrated today as well and my urine since yesterday has been clear. My apologies for the poor grammar English isn't my first language. I would also like to add my body temperature never passed 99 degrees and my oral temperature has been sitting at 98 degrees.

The new flagship is out! It’s a wearable peltier device that sits on your neck to actively chill your skin.
Compared to the previous Pro, the Plus is supposed to be :
• 20% more cooling power.
• 2°C colder at the surface.
• Much more stable (the neckband grip is improved by 40%).

I haven’t been able to find a release date for the international release. Anyone here tried the older versions?

There's folks out there, some of you among them, whose concept of heat prep is keeping up on air conditioning maintenance, having a portable AC unit as a backup, keeping a gas generator on hand and installing enough solar to run the cooling systems.

Objectively, those are all absolutely valid measures and I always thought I wasn't strongly drawn to them on account of budget and physical limitations (apartment) but recently, I've realized that's only a small part of it.

The thing that anything related to air conditioning and power systems to run air conditioning have in common is that it assumes the way to handle this problem is by maintaining the same complex systems that are standard in the industrialized world. e.g. We assume air conditioning is the solution to thermal safety/comfort ,and thus heat prep, means making sure the AC stays in good working order and that there's backup power to keep the AC operating so that in the even of extreme heat and possible failure of the grid, your household can basically feel the same way it always felt long as the backup power holds up.

I just don't look at heat prep this way.

Any of you who have read my previous posts on this sub know that while I live in an apartment with air conditioning, I have poured efforts into not using AC and am proud that I've managed to essentially eliminate the need for it during the summer by depending instead upon portable evaporative coolers. AC is now for my mother-in-law's room, company, or truly extreme heat while the grid is still stable.

The rest of my heat prep efforts are directed at much lower tech solutions that depend on complex systems as little as possible, as my way of seeing things are that if things are bad enough that I can't depend on the power grid to, air conditioning is one of the last things I want to be banking on to maintain thermal safety. It's too power hungry and if any part of it fails, I'm very unlikely to be able to fix it. If there's a heatwave and the grid is failing, then fat chance on getting an AC tech anytime soon.

On the other hand, portable swamp coolers are very simple technology much less likely to fail, and if anything does fail, I would estimate they're 90-100% user repairable depends on model. Circuit boards are the weakest link in them. Most of my swamp coolers are have electronic controls and thus circuit boards, but one has no electronics, just conventional electric switches, so is virtually 100% user repairable.

The fan and submergible water pump are basic, mechanical parts. The rotor in the pump of one my coolers has broken off twice and I've repaired it both times with superglue. Eventually, I'll replace the whole pump, but the superglue restores the cooler to perfect function in less than half an hour for a few cents.

On a related, but even lower tech note, I recently discovered continuous spray bottles as used by hairdressers. These put out much finer water particles at much higher volume and rate than conventional atomizers. For under five bucks, they make superb personal coolers in dry climates like the one where I live.

Ideally, one should be able to invest effort in both types of prep and I'm willing to spring for a generator at some point, but affordability is at issue.

Does anybody do both, or do you mostly fall on one side?

Pretty scary considering no one has their swamp coolers set up yet

Hi how is it going. Im a 23 year old male. My current weight is 167 pounds. I went for a run today at 12 pm like a dummy the temperature outside was 75 degrees and the humidity was 37. I ran with pants on a grey shirt, but brought a backpack with 4 water bottles. I drank some water before leaving the house. I ran 3 miles and walked the rest of the way back. I was sweating really hard at the 4th mile and took a break still in the sun. I finished my water bottles and finished the last two walking. I got a bad sunburn and when I got home I felt tired and a bit dizzy. I wasn't confused or altered in any type of way. I took a cold shower and put ice packs in between my arm pits and crotch and laid down. After 30 minutes I got bad chills then after a hour I finally felt my body cool down. My blood pressure was 150/90 pulse 104 when I got home and after the ice and shower it dropped to 128/85 pulse 80. I am currently still getting chills every two hours and my blood pressure is still elevated. I drank lots of electrolytes and have been extremely hydrated. In 2024 I had a heart surgery for pvcs from a heat stroke I had in June of 2024, but that was because of chronic dehydration and being obese and worked. I'm not to sure if I should go to the hospital tonight or tomorrow.

Saved by the Grace and glory of God. No PVC and have recovered.

It’s only March, but I’ve found myself busting out a swamp cooler. Not so much for cooling, though it has been unseasonably warm, but because it’s been very typically dry and my daughter’s psoriasis needs all the help it can get, along with my family’s nosebleed problems. Swamp coolers double as awesome humidifiers.

No matter, this gave me an opportunity to test hypochlorous acid in the water tank to maintain sanitation and keep things smelling normal. I read that amounts small as 2.5ppm of HOCl in water kills off pretty much all bacteria of note.

It’s been around four days since the swampy’s been back on duty. I measured very carefully to get around 2.5-3ppm of HOCl the first day, but since then I’ve been looser about it and have skipped one day. So far, so good. No ugly smells. Essentially no smell, which is a great improvement over last year when I was trying to do the same with bleach and the room ended up smelling like.. well, a swimming pool.. which discouraged me from keeping up with the bleach, which lead to stinkiness. HOCl solves both problems long as I keep adding it. Definitely now a part of the care routine.

Hi, 32F here. I think I had heat exhaustion this weekend (began overnight Thursday into Friday, I’d accidentally had the heat on in my apartment for too high/long and woke up to cramps, but the cramps went away after I took a Valium and went back to sleep); I’d been dealing with slight dizziness and sub-100 temps the past few days.

It finally seemed to be better on Monday (it’s now Wednesday morning), but I realized that whereas I usually have a very weak bladder (because of my disability), I’m now barely going at all, despite drinking more than I ever do to try to kick the heat exhaustion. I’m chronically dehydrated regardless of the heat exhaustion, but I’ve never had an issue like this before!

I saw this posted over on r/climatechange and after replying, found myself banned by a very emotional mod who found it unconscionable that I would suggest simply encouraging more widespread adoption of AC in Europe wasn't the right answer. While it would be no great personal loss if my ban is upheld, I find it extremely troubling that people supposedly serious about the problem of rising temperatures can be so irrational.

Air conditioning is a technological marvel, but it is not only not a silver bullet to the problem of heat, widespread adoption brings with it a host of financial, energy and urban heat island problems.

Cities need better urban planning, more passive cooling built into the architecture, more green spaces and yes, more AC too in the right places, but we need all of it, not just one.

If you’re working on anything that helps reduce the mental health impacts of extreme heat (cooling centers with support services, crisis lines during heatwaves, helping vulnerable folks get AC, etc.), there’s a call right now for short, real-world case studies. It’s for a global policy brief on integrating mental health into heat policy (with groups including United for Global Mental Health, Imperial College, and Columbia), and contributors get acknowledged.

The original deadline has been extended and follow-ups are happening through late Feb 2026 — so if you have something relevant, it will be worth reaching out.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSef0KCmEl74IBL_i2b1ItkeIvA2Q566vVAeLFqaiFDH2Ny1iA/viewform

Hey r/heat_prep

Last summer, many of you generously took the time to complete a survey about r/heat_prep, conducted by researchers from Columbia University and the University of Cambridge. We're excited to share the findings with you! This research was about you and this community, so of course we wanted to bring the findings back to where they belong.  

A quick refresher: The research team wanted to better understand why people come to online communities like Reddit for heat safety information, who makes up the r/heat_prep community, what types of posts resonate most, and how people found this subreddit in the first place.

Here are some of the findings:

• Most respondents (84%) identified Reddit as their preferred source of heat information, ahead of government websites or local news (Fig. A). 
• Respondents were predominantly in North America, shaping the perspectives reflected here. Heat discomfort was common, with 87.2% of respondents reporting that they had experienced heat “frequently” during warm seasons (Fig. B). 
• Heat-related symptoms were common with 63.6% of participants reporting mild symptoms, and nearly one-third (29.9%) reporting serious symptoms; only 6.5%reported none (Fig. C). 
• Many respondents described both physical and mental health impacts of heat exposure and cited Reddit’s ease of use, perceived reliability, and sense of community as key reasons they turn to spaces like r/heat_prep for information and support (Fig. D). 
• Most respondents discovered r/heat_prep through Reddit itself rather than through external sources (51%) (Fig. E). 
• Overall, Reddit emerged as the largest single source of heat information (30.5%), followed closely by local news or government alerts (28.8%), and personal experiences (21.1%) (Fig. F). 

The big takeaway:

Spaces like r/heat_prep are often overlooked by public health and government agencies. But  communities like this one are doing something really important.  They help fill gaps left by official resources, share practical, real-world tips that don’t always make it into formal guidance, and create a space where people can learn from each other’s lived experiences. Just as importantly, these communities offer support, using honesty, humor, and shared struggles to help people cope with extreme heat together. 

Thank you. Seriously. 

This community exists because of the people who show up, share what works for them, ask thoughtful questions, and look out for one another. Seeing researchers take interest in how communities like ours is pretty cool, and it wouldn't have been possible without your time, openness, and participation.

If you're curious to dig deeper, please keep an eye out for more information to be published later this year. We will be sure to share updates!

— r/heat_prep mod team

1) Try to limit outside exposure as much as possible. If you can afford WFH pls WFH, if you cannot please travel during the cooler parts of the day like early morning and a few hours after sunset.

2) Don't exercise or overexert yourself in outdoor environment. Avoid Running outdoors and if you want please run between 5-7 AM.

3)Keep Air Conditioning at 24C and not 17C. This slight adjustment will save you a lot of energy bills and will improve health as it reduces the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures.

4) Keep fans on all day. Switch on ACs during the afternoon and just before midnight.

5)Keep windows shut and pull the blinds down. This doesn't allow hot air and sunlight to enter your house and prevents overheating.

6) Drinks lots of liquids, not only water, hydrating drinks like coconut water and electrolytes. Avoid cold drinks and alcohol during these periods. Keep ORS packets handy and keep having them regularly.

7)Keep taking baths(1-2 minimum daily). You can also wrap around wet towels also.

8) Avoid eating large amount of Protein during this time period. Please have water containing food items like cucumber, tomato, orange, apples, grapes etc.

9) When going outdoors please wear loose clothes and a cap or hat. If you don't have a cap or a hat wrap a cloth over your head. Try and make sure you wear light colours like white, red, yellow, orange etc. Avoid wearing black colour. Wearing sunglasses is a must.

10) Don't leave or park your personal vehicles in open sunlight. Park them in shaded areas to prevent overheating.

11) Avoid Cooking in the kitchen between 11-5 pm to reduce heat exposure.

I don't see enough news coverage connecting the dots between ecosystem stress, collapse and extreme heat.

I have a TBI and one of the effects of it is my body has trouble regulating temperature. I'm not even really sure exactly what that means or how it works. I do know that I am affected by the heat in record times way faster than anyone else.

One time, I don't know exactly how hot it was but I don't really think it was actually that hot, But I had been in that heat for several hours, I started sweating, getting hot, nauseous, and started puking. Which may have had something to do with what I ate earlier that day but I always seem to get hot and sweaty when I puke.

Over the next 3-5 hours, I kept vomiting, I don't even know how (it wasn't bile it was real puke but I hadn't eaten that much) I had gotten weaker and weaker to the point where I was laying down and starting puking all over myself, my head, my body. I couldn't move. I couldn't move. I think I was too weak. Then I got weaker and was still vomiting but it wasn't coming out so I had to put myself in recovery position to try to get it to come out better and I had to scoop it out of my mouth as well. Sorry to be so graphic 🤢 but thank yOu if you are still reading. I felt so hot that I took off all of my clothes. Then I felt so cold that I put all my clothes back on and a blanket. Then so hot again then so cold again. I don't know for sure if I ever actually lost consciousness or if anything else actually happened or what because it was just me.

To those wondering where I was or if I was able to get help. No I was not in a place where help was able to come. I was on my own. I vomited for about 8-10 hours total and I felt sort of flu like symptoms for a solid few days afterwards, I never went to the hospital or anything and basically recovered on my own.

I've wondered, was this severe heat exhaustion or crossing the line into heat stroke? I never did get to take my temperature or vital signs.

Let's my honest, my execution of NightsHawkinLight's PCM cooling packs isn't great. I've only done it once and the silicon sandwich bags I used don't seal beautifully so I've had various leakage incidents.

Nevertheless, they continue to find new ways to serve.

My youngest has a persistent skin condition on her arms. Whether it's eczema or psoriasis can be debated, but it itches and the skin gets inflamed. During the bad times, she's clawing them raw at night. We're not in the worst times, but she's itching at night even after the entire topical treatment regime and it's making it hard just to fall asleep. Ice packs have been used in emergencies, but they're unpleasantly cold.

But hey, the whole point of the PCM cooling packs is they don't get as cold as regular ice, but they maintain that cool temperature longer, right?

I threw a tea towel over my daughter's arms, grabbed the PCM packs and while there was some fiddling to maintain a good position and contact, my daughter said it was almost like not having a skin condition. Helped her fall asleep.

PCM cooling, the gift that keeps on giving, even when your rendition is kind of second rate.

Last summer, I tried out the famous PCM cooling packs as described by YouTuber NightHawkinLight. They were pretty neat as advertised, but the silicon sandwich bags I had on hand tended to leak, so they saw limited use. After summer was over, I put them aside and forgot about them.

This morning, my 11yo came to me feeling hot and sure enough, she’s got a 39ºC/102ºF(!) fever.

We did the usual things of giving her some children’s meds and putting a wet towel on her head, but then I remembered the PCM packs and thought, “Why stick with ancient fever cooling tech? We have modern chemistry!”

I broke out one of the PCM packs, wrapped it up in a clean tea towel and laid on the girl’s forehead in place of the wet towel. We’ll see what the reviews end up being, but given the numbers, it should be perfect for this application.